During the autumn of 1861 the work of propagation, by means of cuttings and layers, progressed rapidly; and, whereas in June 1861 we only had 2114 chinchona-plants of valuable species at Ootacamund, in January the number was increased to 9732 plants. The layers of C. succirubra root sufficiently to be removed in five weeks, and cuttings in two months; layers of the "grey-bark" taking a little longer time to root, or about six weeks. Mr. McIvor has also made the important discovery that chinchonæ strike freely from eyes, and make beautiful plants exactly like strong seedlings. These eyes will give about eight fine strong plants for one that is obtained from cuttings, which is a great advantage while there is not much wood in the young plants. In October Mr. McIvor reduced the temperature of one of the propagating houses to 55° at night, and 65° during the day; and, under this treatment, which is also probably advantageous to the bark, the plants appeared to grow faster, and the leaves became a very beautiful bright green. The thickness of the bark, in the plants of C. succirubra, is very remarkable, having been in some instances nearly one-seventh of an inch last January, and in the smaller stems the average thickness of the bark considerably exceeds that of the wood. Mr. McIvor attributes the unusual thickness of the bark to the presence of a large number of healthy leaves, exposed to bright light. These leaves throw back into the bark a large quantity of highly elaborated matter. The experience of a year's cultivation convinced Mr. McIvor that, although the most suitable elevation and climate differs with the various species, yet that they all require a rich, rough, and very open soil. In September the erection of a new propagating house for chinchona-plants, in the Government gardens at Ootacamund, was sanctioned, which was completed early in December. It is 63 feet long by 21 broad, and will hold about 8000 plants.
The Dutch Government in Java, at the request of the Government of India, arranged to forward some chinchona-plants of the species cultivated in that island to Calcutta; and accordingly 100 of C. Calisaya, 300 of C. Pahudiana, and 7 of C. lancifolia were transmitted. Of these 48 of C. Calisaya, 4 of C. lancifolia, and 250 of C. Pahudiana arrived at Ootacamund on the 20th of December, 1861. In exchange for these plants a supply of C. succirubræ, and a proportionate number of the other species, will be sent to Java, "not more in return for the valuable accession actually received to our stock of plants of C. Calisaya, than in acknowledgment of the very courteous and liberal spirit evinced by the Dutch authorities."[504] At about the same time Mr. McIvor also sent 100 plants of C. succirubra and 50 of each of the "grey-bark" species to Calcutta, with a view to the establishment of a chinchona plantation in the Sikkim or Bhotan hills.
The plants which arrived from Java were drawn and weak, and had evidently been grown without sufficient light. They were all more or less affected by rot at their roots, and many of the roots were covered with fungi. A few of the plants of C. Calisaya died, but the others recovered under Mr. McIvor's watchful care.
A large parcel of seeds of C. Condaminea, probably of two varieties (Chahuarguera and Uritusinga), and a smaller packet of seeds of C. crispa, were despatched from England in January, and arrived at Ootacamund in March, 1862. By this time Mr. McIvor had discovered the best method of treatment for chinchona-seeds. He sows in very sandy soil; and while so much water is never given as to make the particles of soil adhere to each other, yet the soil is kept in a uniform medium state of moisture. In this way the seeds not only germinate soon, but come up very strong. There is every reason to expect that a good per-centage of these seeds will germinate,[505] and that a large number of these, the earliest known of all the valuable chinchona species, will soon be growing luxuriantly in the upper sholas of the Neilgherry hills. Mr. Howard has also presented the Government with a plant of C. Uritusinga of Pavon (C. Condaminea, H. and B.), six feet high, which he had raised from seed sent to him from Loxa. This precious plant was embarked on board the steamer on the 4th of March, 1862, and arrived at Ootacamund early in April.
Thus, after two anxious years, we now have all the valuable species of chinchonæ mentioned in the second chapter, safely established in Southern India. In the following tabular statement will be seen at a glance the number of species, the number of each species, the number of plants last February, their monthly increase since June, their monthly growth, and their present dimensions. The number is now increasing at the rate of several thousands every month. The imported plants of C. succirubra have already produced some thousands by propagation; and in December the seedlings had attained a size sufficient to give wood for propagation, the first of them having even then produced a few hundred plants.
From the total number of 10,157 chinchona-plants must be deducted 425 of the worthless C. Pahudiana sent from Java, leaving a total of 9732 of valuable species on the 1st of February, with the number rapidly increasing. The increase was not so large as it otherwise would have been during the first two months of 1862, owing to the supply of a number of plants to Java, and the transmission of others to Calcutta, with a view to the formation of a plantation in the Bengal hills, and of sixteen to Mr. Maltby for the Rajah of Travancore.
It is exceedingly satisfactory to compare these results with those of the Dutch cultivators in Java. After six years they only had (exclusive of the C. Pahudiana, which is quite worthless) 8454 chinchona-plants of valuable species;[507] whereas in rather less than one year Mr. McIvor has reared 9732, without counting several hundreds which he has transmitted to Java, Calcutta, and Travancore. The Dutch have only introduced two good species, while we have obtained nine, exclusive of the four plants of C. lancifolia presented by the Dutch authorities. Thus, the average increase of valuable species of chinchona-plants in Java between 1854 and 1860 being at the rate of 1409 a year, the results attained in India have been nearly seven times as great as those of the Dutch cultivators. These facts are not mentioned in any spirit of undue exultation, but in order to show that it is not advisable slavishly to follow the methods of cultivation adopted by the Dutch, as two gentlemen, in official positions, who have recently visited the plantations in Java, appear to imagine. On the contrary, a system of cultivation diametrically opposed to that of the Dutch has enabled Mr. McIvor to achieve his present success; and the sites for plantations have been selected and prepared, not with any reference to the erroneous and comparatively unsuccessful systems pursued in Java, but on the principle of carefully comparing the elevations, temperature, amount of humidity, and of exposure of the mountains where the different valuable species of chinchona thrive in South America, with analogous situations in the hills of Southern India.
The important process of planting out has now commenced in the Neilgherry hills, and it has been a subject of careful consideration whether the chinchona-plants should be grown under dense shade, under the partial shade of forest-trees, or quite in the open: in other words—what are the elevations and amounts of exposure best suited to the growth of the plants, and the development of their alkaloids?
In Java the chinchona-plants were at first established at far too low an elevation, in a wretched soil, and exposed to the full glare of the sun. Dr. Junghuhn, the present Superintendent, went to the other extreme, and, though the proper elevation has been ascertained, yet the error has been committed of forming the plantations in the dense shade of the forest, with the intention of allowing some trees to be drawn up in search of light, without a branch for thirty or forty feet, and of cutting them down for their bark in about forty years, and of grubbing up others in search of imaginary quinine in their roots.[508] I understand that this plan has at last been found to be erroneous, and that Dr. Junghuhn now directs all the trees in the vicinity of the chinchona-plants to be cut down, though faith is still maintained in the quinine-yielding roots of the worthless C. Pahudiana.[509]